A New Zealand senior pastor says Christians who tithe, believe the Bible and are filled with the Holy Spirit are protected from coronavirus.
Destiny Church leader Brian Tamaki was speaking this week in Auckland when he said that Bible-believing Christians who tithe have a Psalm 91 “protection policy” against coronavirus.
“You will not fear the terror of night, nor the arrow that flies by day, nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness, nor the plague that destroys at midday,” he said, reading from Psalm 91. “We needn’t fear it. There is a lot of hysteria that has been engendered by certain elements about this pandemic,” he said.
Tamaki said that “satanic spirits” control how viruses travel in the air, but Christians are safe from the virus.
“The prince of the power of the air, Satan, has control of atmospheres, unless you’re a blood-bought born-again, Jesus-loving, Bible-believing, Holy Ghost-filled, tithe-paying believer. You are the only one that can walk through atmospheres and has a, literally a protection — the Psalm 91 protection policy around you,” Tamaki said. “I don’t care if you don’t believe it. It’s all right.”
Tamaki’s advice, however, is drawing some criticism from other church leaders. Rev. Helen Jacobi, vicar at central Auckland’s St. Matthew-in-the-City, said Tamaki’s comments are “incredibly unsafe.”
“People should be following public health advice. I think it is very dangerous and wrong for any public leader to contravene that. Certainly in the Anglican Church we have been sharing the message to follow public health advice, and we follow it in our own gatherings. It is also quite offensive, saying his followers are safe and no-one else, which is the absolute opposite of the Christian belief,” she said.
She added: “It is very amusing he has chosen that psalm, given it was used by ‘the devil’ to test Jesus.”
CNN reported early this week that more than 90,000 people across more than 70 countries and territories have been infected by coronavirus.
Health officials have said that persons infected with the virus usually develop symptoms similar to the flu. Currently, the flu is impacting more Americans than coronavirus.
